WEBVTT

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- Captain Beth Carrier, I'm from New Hampshire,

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but I work in the Vermont Army National Guard,

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and we are assigned to Task Force Bravo here in St. Thomas.

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The local clinic on the east end of St. Thomas

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just opened today for the first time,

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and they got five pallets of donated equipment

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and donates supplies, mostly medicine

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and diabetic supply equipment that just came in,

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so today, we were unpacking their boxes

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and going through all their medications

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and essentially, organizing it for them.

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Today, we have myself, a physician assistant,

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a scientist of the National Army Guard,

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and then we have four medics along with myself.

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This is the only clinic that serves

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the population on the east end of the island.

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The other clinics are closer to Charlotte Amalie,

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which although it's only six miles away,

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it takes a little over an hour

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to get there from this location.

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So, the weather between the supplies

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that actually came in from another location,

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and I'm uncertain of where this five pallets

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came in from, but it was all, ya know, water damaged,

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the boxes were water damaged.

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Some of the supplies were expiring

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in the next three months, so they need to be utilized,

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and I'm certain that they will.

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Of course, the area that we're in right now,

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we're in a shopping mall, and they had secured

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the five pallets of equipment in a store front, essentially,

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and so there's no air conditioning, there's no ...

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Which is a luxury that we experienced,

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so it's hot, it's humid, but our soldiers

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are working through it, our soldiers,

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airmen, are working through it.

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So, the pharmacists and the doctors will now first of all,

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be able to find what they have,

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be able to distribute it appropriately,

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and they'll be able to utilize

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and have what they have for expiration date,

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and we put everything in an organized fashion,

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so that it will be most beneficial

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to the most amount of people.

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The people here certainly, I've been here

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on vacation many times, so for me, personally,

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I have a little attachment to the area

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and I have some friends that live down here as well,

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so for me, it's an attachment of familiarity

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and family, and the people here have been so gracious to us,

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and man, they're just trucking through it.

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Their homes are gone.

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Some people haven't heard from their families

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who live in Puerto Rico.

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Some people just don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring.

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It's a new normal around the island,

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but they get up every single day and they just do it,

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so we should all feel blessed in what we have.